Eighty die in Iran airline fire

1st Sep 2006

According to Iranian state televisino an airliner caught fire on landing in the northeastern city of Mashhad on Friday, killing at least 80 passengers.The fire began after a tyre blew out as the Russian-made Tupolev was landing. the airplane swerved off the runway and hit the barrier before bursting into flames.

The Iran Airtour plane was coming on an internal flight from the southern port city of Bandar Abbas.

There were 148 passengers on board the flight, the television said, saying that some survivors had escaped without life-threatening injuries. ——-